Spicewood Elementary Chess Club
Central Texas Chess club
At today’s meeting we held our first of two Chess stores. Our students earn Chess bucks for attending our weekly meetings as well as for participating in Chess tournaments. The students can then spend these Chess bucks on fun items like toys, games, books and puzzles during the Chess store event. The Chess store is a great motivational event for our club members. Thank you to all of our volunteer parents for helping make this first Chess store a big success.
Thank you to Carey McKay for taking some great candid photos during our club meeting on October 16th. She captured the Pawns and Knights skill groups playing in the library as well as the Rooks and Kings playing in the Gym. Looks like everyone is having a good time, with some kids lost in concentration as they contemplate their next move.
25 Spicewood Elementary students participated in this past weekend’s Kealing Middle School Chess Tournament. Sixteen local elementary schools participated. The tournament consisted of 5 rounds of games each worth 1 point. In total, our kids scored a total of 53 out of a possible 125 points. Four Spicewood students received trophies for scoring in the top percentile of their groups: Rounav Sur (K-1 U300 1st place), Aria Mitra (K-1 U300 3rd place), Yifan Qiu (K-1 U300 4th place) and Peter Kim (K-5 U600 3rd place). Five Spicewood students received medals for scoring in the second percentile of their groups: Noah Cush, Leon Chen, Ethan Fung, Bela Jere and Ethan Yang.
Our club came in 2nd place in the K-3 Reserve team results, 5th place in the K-5 Reserve team results and 4th place in the K-12 Championship team results. Canyon Vista Middle School took 1st place in the K-12 Championship team results lead by Eric Gao who is a Spicewood Elementary Alumni.
Congratulations to all of our participants. Each received 5 Chess bucks.
If you have any photos from the tournament that you would like to share, please email them to chris@spicewoodchess.org
With the book fair behind us, we were back to normal with the Pawns and Knights in the library and the Rooks and Kings in the Gym. Today was National Chess Day which was designated by former President Gerald Ford in 1976. It is rare for us to have a club meeting on the same day as National Chess Day! President Ford is quoted as saying:
“To give special recognition to a game that generates challenge, intellectual stimulation, and enjoyment for citizens of all ages.”
The Knights skill group reviewed more information on first moves including the three C’s and the importance of developing the minor pieces (knights and bishops). We watched a Chesskid video that shows very well what can happen if you bring your Queen out too early.
Chesskid video: More First Moves
We observed much improved kid behavior at today’s meeting, so thank you to all the parents who helped today.
The first scholastic tournament of the year is this Saturday at Meridian School. There are 22 Spicewood students registered in this tournament. The school is located on North I35 and it takes about 20-25 minutes to drive there from Spicewood Elementary.
We have some helpful advice for all parents to help your kids prepare for the tournament. First, please make sure to get a good night sleep. The tournament day is long and you want to be well rested. There is typically a lot of downtime between rounds, so make sure you bring healthy snacks and drinks. The Meridian school will have a concessions area, so you can support their school by making purchases through them as well.
We typically find and reserve a section for Spicewood students. This area becomes our homebase where the students hang out between round, review their recent matches and practice chess. We recommend bringing a couple of comfortable folding chairs in case seating is limited. We also recommend that you leave portable video games at home. We have seen parents and kids bring books to read, games to play (other than chess), homework, coloring books, soccer balls, etc. It has been normal to have wifi access to the Internet, but each school is different, so we are not 100% sure about this at Meridian.
This will be a relatively small tournament with around 270 participants. Round 1 starts at 9AM and you should find your board at least 30 minutes before the start. We recommend arriving as early as possible in order to claim a good spot to reside for the day. If you plan to be late to any round, please make sure you request a BYE for that round with Lori Balkum (Lori.Balkum@austinchesstournaments.com) who will be located in the computer room which handles all the pairings and result entry.
Results of the tournament rounds will be posted on bulletin boards outside each section as well as online on this page:
https://www.austinchesstournaments.com/events/602
Austin’s first scholastic tournament of the 2015-16 school year is open for registration. Come join us at the Meridian School on September 19th! (limited to the first 350 entries)
This Saturday, August 29th is the last day to register to get the discounted entrance fee of $25.
Entry fee pricing is staggered and based on date of entry. Online registration preferred!
*Early entry (scholastic – $25, open $25) thru Saturday, 8/29/2015
*Regular entry (scholastic – $30, open $25) thru Saturday, 9/12/2015
*One week Away (scholastic – $40, open $25) begins Sunday, 9/13/2015 and ends at noon on Thursday 09/17/2015, at which time online entry closes.
Adults can also play in the Open section but you will need to have a USCF membership and pay the same entrance fee as shown above.
We held a Chesskid.com contest this last week to see who would play the most fast chess games, attempt the most puzzles and watch the most training videos. Here are the results:
Congratulations to all of the participates who each get Chess Bucks for playing. We will hold many more of these contests over the next school year.
We held the last Chess Store of the school year today. Thank you to all the volunteers who manned the store and helped make it a successful and fun event. Here are a few photos from the event:
Remember, if you have any leftover Chess Bucks from this year, you can always use them next year at the next Chess Store event.
The Chess Club Store will be open this Friday morning, May 15th. Please remember to bring your Chess Bucks to Friday’s meeting.
Volunteers are needed. Please contact Terri Schlosser at tbuchana@gmail.com.
Every Saturday afternoon from 12:30 to 3:30, when the weather permits, the Austin Parks Foundation sets up a giant chess set in the white gazebo at Wooldridge Park in downtown Austin. You can see posts and photos on their Facebook page.
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